Fourteen year-old student Ariana Iacono, being forced to take out her nose ring while in school—and, suspended twice for refusing—fought back against her school’s decision claiming it was an infringement to her First Amendment right to exercise her religion.
The Iacono family belongs to the Church of Body Modification. It’s a small group (the church claims roughly 3,500 members nationwide) unfamiliar to most in rural North Carolina, but one with a clergy, statement of beliefs, and a formal process for accepting members. Richard Ivey, the Raleigh-based minister, defines the church as a nontheistic faith that draws people who see tattoos, piercings, and other physical alterations as ways of experiencing the divine.
The Iacono family says that the school was ignoring its own dress code policy, which allows exemptions on religious grounds, and believed that the school was making its own judgments on what constitutes a religion and what does not. “We were told if we were Hindu or Muslim it would be different, “ said Nikki Iacono.
The situation was enough to draw the interest of the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU filed a lawsuit against the school district, seeking a court order allowing Ariana to return to class. "This is a case about a family's right to send a 14-year-old honor student to public school without her being forced to renounce her family's religious beliefs," wrote lawyers from the ACLU and the Raleigh firm Ellis & Winters in a brief supporting the lawsuit.
The Johnson County school system’s dress code policy bans facial piercings, short skirts, sagging pants, abnormal hair color, and other items deemed distracting and disruptive. However, the policy allows for exemptions based on “sincerely held religious beliefs” and says, “the principal or designees shall not attempt to determine whether the religious beliefs are valid, but only whether they are central to religious doctrine and sincerely held."
An official press release from the ACLU states that a judge hearing both sides of the argument issued a temporary restraining order so that Ariana could return to class while the underlying litigation on the constitutional questions is ongoing.
To read the official court transcript click here.
There is not an easy checklist of dos and don’ts that can help schools avoid lawsuits. Each school has its own unique mission and culture to take into consideration, and of course different state laws make it nearly impossible to create a boilerplate checklist that all can follow when designing their policies. It is always advised that schools seek legal counsel from their lawyers. However, there a few guidelines schools can keep in mind when updating and reviewing policies.
- Always ask yourself if your policies match your school’s culture and mission.
- Question if they isolate a particular race, gender, age, or religious group. (Faith-based schools have more leniency regarding their religion-based policies.)
- Question the response the updated dress code policies will receive from parents, students, staff, and faculty. Will you need to provide supporting information so they understand why your school is adjusting its policies?
